Cops foil bid to kill prison inmate

14-member gang attack Yanam sub-jail; 13 held with mastermind at large

Rajahmundry: In a daring act of attack on a prison to kill an inmate, 14 perpetrators from Pondicherry broke into Yanam special sub-jail in the early hours of Thursday and tried to kill a notorious criminal belonging to Pondicherry. But the ploy of the culprits was foiled by the alert prison staff. Thirteen offenders were nabbed by the police immediately after the incident except for the mastermind who is still at large and Yanam police set up a huge manhunt to nab the missing culprit.

According to Yanam SP Purushottaman, Manikantan alias Murder Manikantan who is accused in several cases in Pondicherry was imprisoned in Yanam sub-jail. Manikantan has rivalry with another criminal Shankar who is in Karaikal prison as he murdered his friend named Jagan. Shankar hatched a plan to eliminate Manikantan in Yanam prison itself and handed over the task to one Ashwin Kumar alias Ashwin. A 14-member team led by Ashwin arrived in Ramachandrapuram in East Godavari which is close to Yanam on August 26 and was staying in the lodge, waiting for an opportunity to penetrate the sub-jail.

At about 5 am on Thursday, this gang reached Yanam sub-jail and 10 of its members scaled the 20-foot wall with the help of a long ladder and 100 meters of a long black nylon rope. The persons entered into the prison with chilli powder packets along with 10 litres of petrol in cans and pouches. They first noticed a warden, Shekar who was on duty at that time and tied his hands with the rope and put plaster on his mouth. They asked Shekar for the key of the cell where Manikantan was placed but the warden had no key with him. Another warden named Selvan observed the situation and alarmed the staff and informed the police.

The police formed three teams immediately and set a manhunt for the culprits. The police nabbed the seven accused by chasing them and caught another four persons in Lachhipalem paddy fields near Yanam by-pass road. The mastermind behind the act, Ashwin Kumar is still at large.

The arrested persons were shifted to Pondicherry for security reasons. As far as the security of Yanam sub-jail is concerned, normally police are on duty at the sub-jail from 11 pm to early hours. But the police gathered at GMC Balayogi Stadium as a marathon was scheduled to start from the stadium in the early hours of Thursday. The culprits could easily scale the wall without anybody noticing. The keys of the cell are with the main sentry placed at main gate of the prison whereas the perpetrators scaled the back wall of the prison. Meanwhile, it is learnt that Murder Manikantan along with other dreaded criminals including Karna, Sani Bhogi and Sri Kumar have been shifted to Yanam sub-jail from Talapeta prison in Pondicherry. These notorious criminals are accused in many cases in Pondicherry.

These perpetrators have been shifted to Yanam for security reasons. But there were allegations that these persons are abetting anti-social activities in Pondicherry through mobile phones. Two prison staff members have been suspended in the recent months as two SIM cards have been recovered from this gang.